We won't pretend otherwise - nearly everything we did, read, listened to, and watched online this last week revolved around the iPad, including early reviews, clips from "The Colbert Report," announcements of iPad-specific additions to MobileMe, roundtable discussions of the iPad, and previews of Jeff Carlson's forthcoming iPad book. On the Mac side, we noted how Other World Computing and the Mac Performance Guide have teamed up to offer custom Mac Pro-based workstations for professional photographers.

Download a Free Chapter of Jeff Carlson's iPad Pocket Guide -- Did you receive one of the 300,000 new iPads purchased on the first day? Jeff Carlson and Peachpit Press have posted a 21-page excerpt from Jeff's book "The iPad Pocket Guide" as a free PDF download. It covers setting up the iPad and essential features, and offers a taste of what the rest of the book is like when it ships. (Peachpit is offering it for $8.99 with free shipping. To access the PDF file, click the Sample Content tab on the book's product page.)

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First Day Impressions of the iPad on MacJury -- Matt Neuburg joins Chuck Joiner and a roundtable of other new iPad owners for a wide range of initial perspectives on the first-day iPad experience.

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Stephen Colbert Wants You to Know He Has an iPad -- Stephen Colbert, host of the Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," recently took a hands-on look at the iPad before it was available to the general public. In addition to examining this week's Newsweek cover featuring the iPad and one unfortunate similarity to the iPhone, Colbert demonstrates some of its lesser known features - including those pertaining to the culinary arts!

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MobileMe Brings Features To iPad -- Apple has announced that the MobileMe features Find My iPhone, Remote Wipe, and content syncing are now available for both the iPad with Wi-Fi and the upcoming model that includes 3G. Forgetful road warriors would do well to consider purchasing a $99 MobileMe membership, as the location-finding and data-clearing features would be worth the cost alone should your iPad go missing. Also, iPad owners who have an iPhone will be pleased to know both devices can work with a single MobileMe account.

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MPG and OWC Offer Pre-Configured Mac Pro Photo Workstation -- One of the hardest and most time-consuming parts of buying a new Mac - particularly for demanding professionals - is choosing and configuring it with all the extras: RAM, storage, backups, and software. A new service from Mac Performance Guide and Other World Computing could make that process easier for pro photographers, illustrators, and designers. OWC will deliver a fully assembled, pre-tested, Mac Pro-based system configured to Mac Performance Guide specifications for particular components, system configuration, and testing procedures.

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Macworld Rounds Up Early iPad Reviews -- Macworld puts together links to the first seven iPad reviews, featuring the usual suspects (Pogue, Mossberg, Baig), plus our friends Andy Ihnatko (Chicago Sun Times), Bob LeVitus (Houston Chronicle), and Xeni Jardin (BoingBoing), along with reviewers at The Root and PC Magazine. Actor, comedian, director, and blogger Stephen Fry also received an iPad and posted his thoughts.

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Jeff Carlson Talks iPad and Book Writing on MacVoices -- I'm deep into writing my book "The iPad Pocket Guide" - but how does one write a book about a product that isn't out yet? Chuck Joiner and Jeff discussed the value of having hands-on time with the iPad at the product's introduction, as well as Jeff's impressions of the device compared to the hype, and more on MacVoices.

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